Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Falcons locker room suddenly got less whiny

It seems the Atlanta Falcons and Oakland Raiders are close to a deal that would send disgruntled Pro Bowl cornerback DeAngelo Hall to Oakland and a second-round pick to Atlanta. ESPN and the NFL Network are both reporting a deal is in the works and could be done within a week.

It's another chapter in the strange, but true offseason for the Raiders, who have all but mortgaged the team for a couple of unproven and/or washed up players. If this deal goes down, things look great for the Falcons, who could use all the draft picks they can get. The first day of the draft would look to be an exciting one with the Falcons picking No. 3 overall, No. 34 overall and No. 37 overall. The opportunities are endless for that type of placement on the draft's first day.

There is a lot that can be done with those types of picks and a lot of needs could be addressed in just a few hours time. Some Falcons fans seem to think the deal isn't all that fair to the Falcons. To them, I say take a closer look. With three picks in the top 40, the Falcons are no longer hamstrung to take a quarterback (Matt Ryan) in the first round. They could wait until the early second and take one there. The extra second-rounder, along with a later pick and a used mahogany desk, could also be dangled as trade bait to try to get back into the first round somewhere if the Falcons so choose. There are plenty of options at this point.

All the Raiders are getting is a chance to see just how much D. Hall gets owned on the field and the extreme joy that comes with listening to his whiny voice when things don't go his way. All in all, if this trade goes down, the Falcons are getting a heck of a deal, and the future suddenly looks brighter.

Friday, March 14, 2008

The 'Eliot Spitzer Night' fallout

It has been two days since The Telegraph was the first to report the Macon Music's 'Eliot Spitzer Night' promotion coming June 13 (mark your calendars, by the way).

The fallout from the story has been really, really big. The story has been the most-viewed on macon.com for going on three days, national wires and other media outlets have picked up the story and bloggers have had a field day with it.

Here are some of the more interesting things I found concerning the story while scouring the Web:

- Sj-hypocycloid thinks 'Eliot Spitzer Night' would make a heck of a road trip.

- GC at Can't Stop The Bleeding has created an Eliot Spitzer baseball card on his blog.

- HHR is getting in on the fun by creating 'Eliot Spitzer Night' shirts and offering a free weekly guest post to anyone who wants to keep the blog updated about the Music this season.

- Popular sports blog DeadSpin.com created a picture of what the disgraced New York governor would look like wearing a Music cap.

- With Leather gives the promotion an F-.

OK, so it's not exactly like Oprah's visit. Personally, I have received e-mails from as far away as California from people speaking out about the planned promotion. Needless to say, not many people are finding the supposed humor in the event. Many are outraged and most say it's the most tasteless promotion they've ever seen. So, if nothing else, the Music at least have that going for them.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Music hit strange chord with 'Eliot Spitzer night'

With everything that's going on with New York governor Eliot Spitzer, perhaps the last group you'd expect to get involved would be the Macon Music baseball team. It was a shock, to say the least, to learn that the team had decided to dedicate a night to the disgraced politician.

There has been a lot of buzz since The Telegraph put the story out -- some of it is in support of the team and some against. The question here isn't really that of taste or decency or a lack of a sense of humor. Regardless of whether it's morally right or not, it's smart from an attention standpoint. Some might not use that term; others might find "trashy," "classless" or "cheap" more suitable. But those who spawned the idea had to know that it was going to receive a lot of attention. The fact of the matter is, the wacky, zany, crazy idea will put butts in the seats.

And that's the idea behind the idea. The Music are drawing some national attention over the outlandish promotion. Once June 13 rolls around, it's not far-fetched to think Luther Williams Field will draw more fans than other nights, especially if, against everything that is good and just, Spitzer accepts the invitation to attend the game and throw out the first pitch.

That scenario is unlikely, but for a town that, at times, lacks in excitement, Eliot Spitzer night might just turn into a hot ticket for nothing more than the opportunity to be a part of an odd promotion.

While it's completely understandable that many people in and around town would be completely turned off by the idea of having such a promotion, there are still plenty of people who will attend the game.

And that, like it or not, is what the whole idea is about.